Tangential-impulse water-wheel.



s. L. BERRY. TANGENTIAL IMPULSE WATER WHEEL.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 16, 1908.

Patented Dec.26, 1911.

SENECA LUCIEN BERRY, OF SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA.

TANGE'NTIAL-IMPULSE WATER-WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 26, 1911.

Application filed November 16, 1908. Serial No. 462,882.

BERRY, a citizen of the United States, re-

siding at Sunnyvale, in the county of Santa Clara and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in TangentialImpulse Water Wheels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to tangential 1mpulse water-wheels in which a jetof water under high velocity from a nozzle is designed to impinge upon acircumferential series of buckets to drive the wheel.

The object of the present invention is to obtain greater efliciency,especially when using large volumes of water, than is now possible bythe wheels ordinarily in use. This desired increased efficiency I obtainby so constructing the buckets and arranging them with respect to thewater jet, that the splitter edges of the buckets will be normal to thedirection of relative flow of the water entering the movingbuckets,-whereby the line of the stream will not be deflected toward oraway from the axis of the wheel on striking the buckets, but thereversal of the stream in the buckets will take place in a plane whichpasses through the axis of the stream and which is parallel to the axisof the wheel.

The invention consists of the parts and the construction and combinationof parts as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, havingreference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is anelevation of a part of a wheel showing the principle of the invention.Fig. 2 is a section on 1-1, Fig. 1.

2 represents the rim of a wheel of an suitable description to which thebuckets 3 are applied.

My buckets are double buckets having their cups or pockets arranged inpairs on each side of a central continuous dividing wedge or splitter 4,the sides of which splitter are continuous with the inner sides andbottoms of the cups or pockets. Preferably there are a plurality ofpairs of pockets or cups cast integral, the dividing line between twobucket sections or any group of integrally cast buckets being indicatedby the irregular line LMGH.

The splitter edge of the buckets is disposed in the plane of the centerline of the jet issuing from nozzle 7 this center line being indicatedat p. The splitter edge divides the stream equally, one-half going toone side of the wheel, the other half to the other, the divided streambeing received into the pockets and discharged laterally therefrom.

The position of the nozzle 7with respect to the splitter 4 is importantas afl'ecting the efficiency of the wheel; and the relationship existingbetween the nozzle and the splitter edge and buckets constitutes theessence of this invention: In other Words the hydraulic feature of theinvention is in the formation of the splitter edge with respect to thewater jet issuing from the nozzle 7, so that the relative flow line(represented by VR) is normal to the splitter edge. By employing adouble bucket with a wedge-shaped splitter whose edge is at all timesnormal to the relative flow line of the jet when the bucket is passingthrough the jet, the stream will be received, reversed anddischargedwith a minimum deflection of its path from the line of the water col-'umn, thus allowing the wheel to run at the correct speed to utilize mostfully the force of the jet.

One of the serious faults of wheels of this type previously made, isthat there is a great difi'erence in the conditions governing thereception, reversal and discharge of the various parts of the streamtaken care of by' each bucket. Part of the water discharges near thepoint of entrance and part at a considerable distance along the streamline. It is proposed to correct this as far as it may be by thearrangement of the splitter and nozzle shown so that a greater part ofthe water will follow the ideal stream path. In order to clearlyunderstand the principle involved, it is necessary to distinguishbetween the absolute and the relative direction and velocity of flow ofthe water. These terms and their applicability to water-wheels areexplained in all complete treatises on hydraulics, and may be brieflystated as follows: The absolute direction and velocity of the water isits direction and velocity in relation to the earth, while the relativedirection and velocity is its direction and velocity as they wouldappear when viewed from the moving bucket.

Referring to Fig. 1, the line 10 represents the center line of the jetof water, which meets the circle 88 (or perimeter of the continuoussplitter edge 4: and known as the outer circle) at R, and is tangent tothe circle 99 known as the pitch circle. Let the line RF I, of anylength, represent the direction and velocity of a pointon the bucketlocated on the pitch circle 9-9 at the instant it reaches the tangentline p; draw the line TS at right angles to said line 29, cutting theline RS which is tangent to the circle 88 at R, at the point S. Then itwill be found, by well-known principles of geometry, that the ratio ofthe line R-S to the line R-T will be the same as the ratio of the radiusof the outer circle 8-8 to the radius of the pitch circle 9-9, and theline S-R will represent the direction and velocity of the entering lipat the point B. As the absolute velocity of the parts of the bucketsituated on the pitch circle is usually made one-half of the absolutevelocity of the water, the line UR is made I equal to twice T-R andrepresents the absolute direction and velocity of the water. Completinging points S to S- R and R-V parallel to S-U, the line RV,will representthe direction and velocity of the water relative to the bucket movingunder the conditions given. The line V-R, therefore, expresses the rela-'tive flow of the water to the bucket, and

the moving bucket receives water from the jet, the; center line of whichis the'lin'e p, in

the same way that it would were the bucket stationary and the jet centerline placed on the line V--R.

As shown in Fig. 2 the inner walls of the pockets converge wedge-shapeto the splitter edge 4 and this splitter is so disposed to the nozzlethat the stream may reach the bottom of the buckets with the leastpossible deflection toward or away from the axis of the wheel; thereversing and discharging curvesbeing shaped to perform their functionswith a minimum of deflection of the water towardor away from the axis ofthe wheel and to prevent excessive spreading of the water, the finalsurfaces being arranged to discharge the water to clear the followingbucket. The shape of the buckets is generally immaterial, except thatthe splitter edge is made substantially wedge-shape, as shown in Fig. 2,with the base of the wedge running into, and in connection of, thebottom of the pockets on each side of the splitter; the divergentsplitter surfaces forming the inner walls of the pockets. In

' designing water-wheels with buckets having the splitter edge normal tothe relative direction of flow of the water, I have found that when thesplitter edge is continuous, as here shown at 8-8, the pitch radius 2'.6., the radius of the circle 9-9 tangent to the center line 2 of thestream is 0.707 of the outer radius z'. 6., the radius of the circle8-8. This results in a free running impulse water-wheel, of a capacitymore nearly approaching the regular types of turbines and with all theadvantages of the tangential impulse wheels. As the position of thenozzle changes, the diagram changes, and the shape of the splitter edgeof the buckets changes in conformity therewith. Thus, as

' here shown, the axis of the nozzle has been brought nearer the centerof the wheel until the splitter edge has moved toward the circumferenceof the wheel, and at thecritical point has become coincident with thecircumference itself. If on the other hand the nozzle were moved fartherfrom the center of the wheel, the splitter edge for each bucketwoulddepart from a true circle and assume the position represented inthe companion case of applicant Ser. No. 577312. Understanding that theline V-R represents the relative direction of flow of the jet, when thenozzle is so arranged that the radius of the circle 9-9 tangent to thejet the parallelogram by connecti and U, drawing U-V parallel centerline p is 0.707 of the radius of the outer circle 8-8, the edge of thesplitter on passing through the stream will be normal to this relativeflow line V.R. The advantage of this construction is that by myarrangement of the splitters and nozzle, I avoid undesired deflection ofthe stream on hitting the buckets. Another advantage is that this wheelwill take equally well sin gle circular jets, multiple circular jets,and rectangular streams around a part or all of the circumference.Another advantage is that tangential wheels as made at present, musthave multiple streams applied at considerable distances apart, while theconstruction of my wheel permits the application of water around theentire circumference, the same as in ordinary turbines, and retains allthe advantages of the free running impulse wheel. 7

Having thus described my invention, what 'I claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent isg 1. The combination with a hydraulic nozzle, of animpulse water-wheel having a circumferential series of double buckets,said buckets having a central continuous splitter wedge-shape in crosssection, the edge of said splitter and said nozzle being constructed andarranged to cause said edgeto be constantly normal to the relative flowline of the entering stream.

2. The combination with a hydraulic nozzle, of an impulse water-wheelhaving a circumferential series of double buckets, said buckets having acentral continuous splitter wedge-shape in cross. section, the edge ofsaid splitter and said nozzle being constructed and arranged to causesaid edge to be constantly normal to the relative flow line of theentering stream, the radius of the M circle which is tangential to theaxial line of the nozzle, being approximately 0.707 of the In testimonywhereof I have hereunto set outer radius of the wheel. my hand inpresence of two subscribing wit- 3. An impulse water-wheel having aseries nesses.

of circumferentially arranged double buck- SENECA LUCIEN BERRY.

ets said buckets having a continuous splitter Witnesses:

with the pitch radius of the wheel approxi- ANNA ELIZABETH BERRY,

mately 0.707 of the outer radius. JOHN FAULDS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by adiressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

